What's the difference between incredulous and skeptical?

Incredulous


Definition:

  • (a.) Not credulous; indisposed to admit or accept that which is related as true, skeptical; unbelieving.
  • (a.) Indicating, or caused by, disbelief or incredulity.
  • (a.) Incredible; not easy to be believed.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) No,” Bale says, laughing and looking almost incredulous.
  • (2) The fact that something very similar happened last year at Wimbledon only fractionally lessens the incredulity at another surprise result.
  • (3) Three years ago, I would have watched these news reports with incredulity.
  • (4) When the White House sent a private message to Tehran last week about its so-called "red lines" in the Strait of Hormuz, the reaction was both puzzled and incredulous.
  • (5) Penetrating questions – probably repeated until he gets an answer – quickfire debate and incredulous facial expressions are likely to be the order of the day.
  • (6) Several delegates were incredulous at claims by the banks that they were ramping up lending to small businesses.
  • (7) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian For women, such as Sophie, 29, working in the Republic of Ireland but originally from France, the experience is a logistical headache which makes her incredulous about Ireland’s attitude towards women’s rights.
  • (8) This year at least some of the people who think going to the police is a tidy solution may have learned that the police can be incredulous, unresponsive, abusive, or ineffective.
  • (9) - now our stock response to anything met with the slightest incredulity."
  • (10) He did Bright Young Things (2003), directed by Stephen Fry; he played President Paul von Hindenburg in Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003); he was an incredulous Priam in Troy (2004) and Casanova as an old man in the 2005 mini-series starring David Tennant.
  • (11) When I misunderstand a remark about Andrew Mitchell and ask if he felt sorry for the ex-chief whip for losing his job, I get a look of incredulity.
  • (12) The faces here, in contrast to those at the window of remembrance, are jubilant, incredulous.
  • (13) Some will betray flickers of relief or ecstatic incredulity; other faces drop.
  • (14) His T-shirt is soon soaked with sweat and he looks incredulous when told he has sparred 10 rounds.
  • (15) A few days after an incredulous judge threw out the case against Colin Stagg in 1994, I saw the police descend into denial.
  • (16) Remember that two school shooters, Dustin Pierce and Michael Carneal, expressed incredulity at what they had done only moments later.
  • (17) The mere fact that many of the standoff defendants entered into plea deals rather than go to trial suggests that they and their attorneys also felt the government had a very strong case.” There was similar incredulity at the not guilty verdicts in Fort Smith in 1988, as analysts pondered how the government could possibly lose a case against leaders and foot soldiers of the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations, among other organizations, some of whom had previously been proven to have robbed banks and armored trucks, killed people, and openly called for the violent overthrow of the government.
  • (18) You think we did this ourselves?” one asked incredulously, pointing at a line of bullet holes.
  • (19) one asked incredulously, pointing at a line of bullet holes.
  • (20) Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, said she remained incredulous that no one in the SNP knew about the case before now.

Skeptical


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to a sceptic or skepticism; characterized by skepticism; hesitating to admit the certainly of doctrines or principles; doubting of everything.
  • (a.) Doubting or denying the truth of revelation, or the sacred Scriptures.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Far from being depressed, the audience turned into a heaving mass of furious geeks, who roared their anger and vowed that they would not rest until they had brought down the rotten system The "skeptic movement" (always spelt with "k" by the way, to emphasise their distinctiveness) had come to Singh's aid.
  • (2) We intend to treat claims from the most powerful factions with skepticism, not reverence.
  • (3) But the question of what Wray will do after his tenure as FBI director may prompt some skepticism, the former agent said.
  • (4) Of these therapists, 78% reported that they had encountered intense skepticism from fellow professionals.
  • (5) Skeptics have disregarded that even lyophilized preparations of demonstrated activity will lose effect when stored above -80 degrees C. This explains some inconsistencies of results and difficulties in repetition.
  • (6) These stories play on half-truths, like the presence of far-right nationalists at Maidan, and reasonable doubt, like skepticism of western meddling.
  • (7) Louis Pasteur's vaccine against rabies, introduced 100 years ago, was greeted by the American medical community with a mixture of praise and skepticism.
  • (8) But first it has to get to the floor of the House of Representatives – where the leadership, which allowed a floor vote on Amash's amendment this summer, appears to take a more skeptical view.
  • (9) But the euro-skeptic outcome of the European elections posed risks to the single market and the economic recovery was "neither robust nor sufficiently strong".
  • (10) Outside of the potential abuses, there are other reasons to be skeptical of the cheerleading around the housing recovery.
  • (11) Some argue that the public accepts that modern medicine is effective, and others say that as a whole the public is skeptical about its value.
  • (12) PB Everything goes right for the Chargers You can forgive San Diego Chargers fans for being skeptical about their team's chances, and not just because their team only had a 1.6% chance of making the playoffs around Week 13 .
  • (13) Bradley argues that, while young people are generally good at spotting advertising, university prospectuses are different and can slip under the radar of skepticism.
  • (14) The problem of a hermeneutic psychiatry would be to steer between the Scylla of naive realism ignoring the major participation of the psychotherapist on the one hand, and the Charybdis of relativism, nihilism, and hopeless skepticism on the other.
  • (15) The evaluation and management of retinal ischemia from atherosclerotic carotid disease is in a state of flux reflected by the change from emphasizing surgical management in the '70s toward skepticism about the benefit of surgery in the '80s.
  • (16) Changes in nomenclature, while sorely needed, should be undertaken with appropriate skepticism and conservatism and should build upon the foundation provided by DSM-III.
  • (17) Thomas Jefferson, though generally skeptical of the medical treatments of his day, turned to laudanum in his later years to help ease his chronic diarrhea – an affliction that probably helped kill him .
  • (18) Many clinicians and radiotherapists are skeptical about the outcome of using radiosensitizers in patients.
  • (19) Surgeons commonly have reacted with skepticism to the introduction of catheter-based interventional approaches to treating coronary artery disease, prompted apparently, by a desire to protect what had been exclusively their turf.
  • (20) And theirs is not the only near-death story that has raised skeptical eyebrows – even among evangelicals.